.. passing through Palermo

With our departure on the ferry being 8:40pm we had a relaxing departure out of Cefalu and once on the train to Palermo we were there in under an hour.

Fortunately I knew exactly where we could securely leave our bags at the train station from a prior visit there. Bags handled and locked away we had around 7 hrs to have a little look around Palermo.

We took the open top bus to get an overview of this busy city. The port region had at least 4 very big cruise ships and the impact of the 1000's of people off them, doing what we were doing, made the streets and open top bus much busier than my previous experience. The bus tour gave us an insight and after doing more than one full circuit we decided to get off at the Cathedral to have a look inside as I didnt get in last time. There was a plaque of historical dates on it with the first entry being 1197. Mark was mightily impressed with this statistic!! It was a massive Cathedral. Besides a distance of around 100m from front door to the altar, the side aisles were also substantial having 9 individual domes ceilings and altars down each side. Each of these altars was ornate and very impressive. There was also this fabulous silver ornate coffin and stand which gets carried through the town for a particular festival each year. (I know it would be handy if we actually remembered the finer details... but alas... we are on holidays and our brains are too!!) Mark is keen to research the historical facts of everything he sees when he gets home. This will keep him busy until the next trip.

Starving by this time, we headed down the street to find lunch. It was so weird to note there did not seem to be anywhere as we strolled down this main street when all of a sudden I saw what seemed to be a little takeaway cafe, but recalled we ate there last time and that there was seating in the next room. Delicious home made food had us happy and on the way again.

As we were walking down the street we saw a door to another church was open so we ducked in. Amazing!! The whole church was oval inside and the walls and columns were decorated with elaborate inlaid marble patterns of mostly flowers, vines and leaves. There were no pews here just individual velvet seats. Each had cushioned arms and 3 round cushioned discs which wrapped around your back as you sat in them. Very funky looking and comfortable.
This is one corner of what they call the quadrant. It is the 4 corners of an intersection each with similar but with different details. These were built with the initial concept of protecting the poorest of the community who were living within this space in a shanty town.

To say that being in this town was a little crazy (like Catania) would be saying the least. We witnessed an accident between 2 vespas that had to stop suddenly when a man decided to walk in front of them with his dog. There was another accident when a car got sandwiched between 2 prime movers at a major intersection. One was with our tour bus. We were sitting in the very front row of the open top deck when another bus came towards us in the street. The streets are very narrow and would be fine for 2 buses if no one parked on the street. With cars either side it makes it very tricky and often buses have to pull over to allow other buses or big vehicles pass. Anyway, our 2 buses clipped mirrors leaving our mirror dangling by its cable. Whilst the accident was nothing major the traffic chaos was. We were completely entertained. At one point 2 men appeared between our 2 front seats waving and cheering to their mates whom they had only minutes earlier been standing with chatting on the side of the road. Within a minute they were back down and lots of back slapping and laughing was going on like they were some heroes. (Such boys!!) There was much tooting of horns and also as the buses backed off a little to allow the drivers to swap details and have a chat over it all, any little gap was soon used by the vespa riders to whip in between the buses and get past. They also were ducking up the footpath and even some cars some how thought they may squeeze through the 2 ft wide gap that had been created. Crazy, crazy, crazy... all during peak hour traffic. The bus then stopped at the next stop, called in and then came to tell us (who were the only 3 on the bus) that he could not take us back to the station and that we would have to take another public bus #101, back to the station to get our luggage. This proved easy and soon we were on our way on another bus to the port and our overnight ferry to Naples. I must say, this day, we had such luck with every bus and train we had to catch. As soon as we decided what we wanted to do and which bus to catch we got our tickets and there it was. We had no wasted time standing around waiting.

Unfortunately our camera battery just died so we cannot upload any more pics but our ferry was bigger and more flash then the one I went on last time. It also had many other passengers. Dinner was just ok, but we met a lovely french girl (Flora) who was on her way home after 2 weeks on a boat studying the sysmic movements of the plates under the seas and the likely hood of predicting future Tsunami's in this area should there be any earthquakes over 5.5.

We had an early morning arrival into Naples. Passing Mt Vesuvius around 5:30, it made an impressive silhouette in the early dawn light. Our cabins were great and spacious. We slept well and had an easy stroll to the next harbour to catch a local ferry to Positano. Unfortunatley the harbour in Positano was closed to our size boat due to repairs they are making so we had to get off in Amalfi and catch the bus back. This was an 17 km (50 min) trip on an extremely narrow road. It was very very very very windy and often the bus would have to reverse to let another bus pass. As he approached each corner he was also tooting his horn to warn others drivers we were coming. The road went through small tunnels made in the mountains and hugged the coast with often some of the road being built on ledges attached to the side of the rock face. Mark and I were very excited and exhilarated. Sue was terrified!! Poor girl... she sat holding the hand supports on the back of the 2 seats in front of her. I think her hands were still in that position 2 hrs later. She was holding so tight she managed to break a nail while practically imbedding it in her hand. At one stage a brand new BMW x5 tried to sqeeze past us on a corner as he did not want to wait. The poor man managed to drive his car up and over the steps of someones house which meant the under carriage of his car made a dreadful crunching and grinding sound. He was then trapped knowing he would have to do further damage to get off the steps.

Its great to see all your comments. It feels like home to see the banter of my brothers (#5 & 8). Keep them coming. x Dominique & Mark (one week till the kids get here!!!)